Harvard Square

Harvard University Police report this guy pretended to be from a medical and dental recycling company and made off with 500 to 600 pounds of old X-ray film from a Harvard Square location last week. Police report there's silver in them thar films - enough to risk arrest to extract for re-sale.

AlertNewEngland reports the TD Bank in Central Square was held up around 4:30 p.m. And since T-riding bank robbers seems to prefer the Red Line, the T held up Red Line service to let police search for him.

• Red Line proves unreliable - as getaway route for alleged bank robber
• Harvard Square bank robbery suspect attempts getaway via Red Line

The Boston Public Library has posted a ton of Leslie Jones photos from Harvard, MIT and Wellesley, including this June, 1924 charmer, titled, "Harvard Class Day: Harvard Klass Kow & Klans - students having fun on Class Day."

Some context: The Klan was in the news at Harvard in the 1923-24 school year. In October, 1923, the Crimson reported on Klan recruitment among Harvard men. A local Klansman claimed 300 Harvard men had attended a session in Boston; the year before, some Harvard Klansman switched allegiance from the Cambridge Klan to the Brookline chapter, because the latter was "sufficiently intellectual" for them. But, still that wasn't good enough for the Harvardians, some of whom wanted to organize their own chapter.

Perhaps in response to the Crimson article, some Harvard students draped a banner across Massachusetts Avenue declaring "KOPEY FOR KLEAGLE K. K. K" on Halloween night.

Posted under this Creative Commons license.

Shaun Engstrom reports this morning:

BREAKING NEWS: Coraline stop motion ad between Harvard & Central Sq replaced w/ Blue Man Group. It's been 2 years, praise the MBTA gods.

A group of about 50 teens spontaneously started brawling around 10:30 p.m. in the area of Mass. Ave. and Church Street. At least 15 Cambridge and Harvard police cruisers responded; people tweeting there were arrests. Photo.

Similar manhole cover, near MIT. Photo by Liz Coffey.

Liz Coffey forwards a copy of a note she dashed off to the Cambridge Historical Commission:

Kerry McDonald posts an FAQ about schooling your kids at home in a Cambridge condo:

Q. Don't you want to live in a big house with a big yard and plentiful parking?

A: We like our cozy home and we rarely drive our car in the city so assigned parking isn't a necessity for us. And who needs a big yard when we have Harvard Yard just up the road? Also, our small shared backyard in our big, six-family building fosters a strong sense of community and collaborative play, particularly because there is now a gaggle of kids in our building. So much of our time in the city is spent outside of our house--meeting friends at nearby parks and playgrounds, visiting museums and libraries, exploring city squares, hopping on a bus or subway train--that we don't feel limited by our small city space.

Teddyballgame1983 was at the Harry and the Potters concert in Harvard Square last night.

Copyright Teddyballgame1983. Tagged as universalhub on Flickr.

Bob Slate, which shut earlier this year, is announcing plans to re-open this fall at 30 Brattle St. under new ownership.

The new owner is working closely with Mallory & Justin Slate to create that signature Slate shopping experience. We hope that you will come by to tell us about your favorite products so that we can try to source them for you.

Via Chris Devers, via Davis Square LiveJournal.

Common Cause Massachusetts is hosting a Redistricting Olympics this summer. We will be taking citizen drawn Congressional, State House, and State Senate maps all summer, evaluating them, declaring a winner, giving out prizes and submitting the winning maps to the MA Legislative Redistricting Committee for consideration.

The purpose of the redistricting Olympics is threefold: to educate the public about the steps in the redistricting process, to initiate public participation in the political arena, and to pressure the legislature to draw the districts so that the citizens are appropriately represented.

Help show the legislature that redistricting is about our interests, not theirs. By participating in our redistricting Olympics and learning how to draw your own fair districts, you can acquire the tools you need to expose attempts by public officials to politicize the state’s new legislative maps.

For more information check out and/or email us at .

Participate in our democracy!

Wicked Local Cambridge reports on a Harvard Square incident.

The biggest. most raucous production of this show yet.

"2010: Our Hideous Future," is coming to Oberon, and excitement is high. Have you seen that place? It's pretty much the future right there.

THE WAY, FAR DISTANT FUTURE, A.D. 2010, EAST COAST METRO ZONE A, NEW MALDEN: a time of techno-studded blechhiness. Lonely human freedom fighter Kate Brick plans a last stand against the oppressive Artas, artificial life forms who control humankind through torture, brainwashing, and Facebook. But judging by the complacence of her lover Dehnise Compuserve and the general apathy of her fellow humans, it may be too late.

This near futuristic dystopian cyberpunk musical comedy returns to the stage featuring its original cast of local artists: Kamela Dolinova, Katie Drexel, Julia Lunetta, Timothy Hoover, John Deschene, Kay Coughlin, Ginger Lazarus, Emily Taradash and Will Todisco.

Inspired by the performance space at Oberon, The Unreliable Narrator Theater Group and The Pluto Tapes will update this fan favorite with new songs, staging, and interactive elements known as the MC’s Hall of Interactive Hideousity.

This production will feature the FAC2010: Post-Show Dance Party featuring the DJ stylings of The Pluto Tapes. Music and Lyrics are still by Andy Hicks, Book still by Carl Danielson and now featuring Choreography by Alex Nemiroski.

An Orange Line problem Ray Davies would love. Photo by MBTA.

A "heat kink" in the tracks near Malden (above) is wreaking all sorts of havoc on the Orange Line this afternoon, forcing Oak Grove-bound riders onto buses at Wellington - which is also causing problems on the bus lines from which buses have been diverted to shuttle subway riders.

Red Line riders heading to Alewife are faring no better due to a dead train at Harvard.

From somewhere in the bowels of the Orange Line, OwenWilsonsNose at first tweeted:

Usually I'd be pissed, but B's won the cup last night, can't complain!

But that was before he actually tried getting on one of those shuttle buses:

Neve rmind, line for the bus is atrocious. I hate you, MBTA.

Dead Red. Photo by Tammytantrum.

Publishers Weekly writes the final chapter, just a few days after also informing us that the Globe Corner Bookstore is going away this month as well.

Really, what other line would they ride? This guy and his parrot are apparently Red Line regulars. He came down to the inbound side of Harvard this afternoon with Polly on his shoulder, then sat as the bird moved to the handle of his shopping cart. He asked a busker a few feet away if she'd like some accompaniment:

Publishers Weekly posts the impending obit for the Harvard Square store, which goes out of business at the end of this month, several years after it left the Downtown Crossing location that gave it its name. The owner says he couldn't find anybody to buy the place; will continue to operate globecorner.com.

Via Chris Klein.

The Crimson reports on the traditional end-of-semester naked run around Harvard Yard:

Alongside urinating on the John Harvard statue and having sex in the stacks of Widener Library, Primal Scream is one of the three tasks that Harvard students should complete before graduation, according to undergraduate lore.

Historygradguy captured the Weeks Footbridge over the Charles, while Greg MacKay shot the scene where the Central Artery used to be.

Copyright Historygradguy and Greg MacKay respectively. Tagged as universalhub on Flickr.

The Crimson reports the student was held up at gunpoint around 10:30 p.m. Monday on Linnaean Street - and that Cambridge Police arrested a suspect.

And John Carroll for one will be there "to make Gottfried feel more sorry than he currently does."

Dead train means down time for Red Line commuters this morning.

At 9:37, Geoff Mamlet tweeted:

Red line Harvard Sq platform packed like sardines. 2 trains taken out of service. 30 min delay.

At 9:38, Angie tweeted:

Current commuting time from Davis to Porter: 40 minutes. I hate you, mbta.

It was so bad, even the five-star-day train driver got in the act, Mamlet added:

Red line announcer: "Don't let us get you down! Have a 5 star day!"

The Crimson reports it happened around 10:50 p.m. Tuesday on Prescott Street, across from the Harvard Faculty Club:

The shorter suspect rummaged through the victim's backpack while the taller suspect asked whether the victim had anything else on him.

The Crimson reports.

The Finance Foodie reports on the 40th-anniversary dinner at Grendel's Den in Harvard Square, which included a speech by longtime eater and constitutional law scholar Laurence Tribe:

To be honest, I kind of tuned out as the Prof waxed poetic because the spinach pie that I had as my main course was massive and delicious -- and required much concentration to eat!

Panhandlers or street performers?